The present invention relates generally to electronic commerce and, more particularly, to systems and methods for effecting commercial transactions via electronic interfaces. The present invention also relates to systems and methods for implementing an electronic transaction gateway between a host computer system and the computer systems of a plurality of trading partners.
Recently, substantial attention has been directed to the field of electronic commerce and, in particular, to systems and methods that utilize various aspects of the Internet for effecting commercial transactions and enabling communication between trading partners. Moreover, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many businesses are already communicating with each other via one of several electronic interfaces. Such interfaces include, for example, telephonic interfaces, facsimile (FAX) interfaces, value added network (VAN) interfaces, point-to-point dial-up interfaces and Internet interfaces. Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that numerous businesses have established systems for effecting electronic data interchange (EDI) transactions with their trading partners, and that several EDI standards have been developed in an effort provide standard message formats for effecting such business transactions. For example, EDI formats or "templates" are provided for purchase orders, invoices, shipping notices, product registrations and so on. Presently, two principal EDI standards, X12 and EDIFACT, are utilized for effecting and managing electronic commerce. The X12 standard is managed by the ANSI ASC X12 committee and is the predominant standard used by businesses and governmental agencies in North America, whereas the EDIFACT standard is managed by the United Nations ECE working group, and is the prevailing standard used within Europe and Asia.
In view of the foregoing, it becomes readily apparent that when a given business determines to engage in electronic commerce or, perhaps more importantly, decides to migrate from one form of electronic commerce to another, numerous issues must be addressed. The issues are further complicated when it is taken into consideration that not all trading partners will prefer to utilize or, indeed, support the same electronic interfaces or modes of communication, and that not all trading partners will support the same data formats. As noted above, companies in Europe and Asia may prefer to exchange data in accordance with the EDIFACT standard, whereas companies within the United States may prefer to exchange data in accordance with the X12 standard.
Thus, those skilled in the art will appreciate that a need exists for systems and methods that will enable businesses to manage sophisticated, heterogeneous trading partner networks involving diverse protocols, transaction types, scheduling and translation requirements.